Experts share opinions on Digital currencies, regulated Banking, future of money
The panel comprised of Mr.Adolph Kpegah, Chief Risk Officer, Absa Bank, Mr.Kwame A. Oppong, Head of FINTECH and Innovations at the Bank of Ghana, and Mr.Desmond Israel, Legal practitioner, founder, and lead consultant at Information Security Architect Ltd.
A team of crack experts has shared opinions on Digital Currencies, regulated Banking, and the future of money in Ghana.
Generally, all resource persons at the Quarterly Banking Round table by the UPSA Law School held on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, acceded to the popularity and role of Digital currencies in modern-day transactions and aligned towards the adoption of Central Bank-backed Digital currencies.
The panel comprised of Mr.Adolph Kpegah, Chief Risk Officer, Absa Bank, Mr.Kwame A. Oppong, Head of FINTECH and Innovations at the Bank of Ghana, and Mr.Desmond Israel, Legal practitioner, founder, and lead consultant at Information Security Architect Ltd.
THE PLACE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES IN THE CURRENT FINANCIAL SYSTEM
Speaking on the place of Digital currencies in the current financial system, Mr. Desmond Israel noted that digital payments have become a central part of every human transaction thus calling for the policy agenda of Banks to be directed at addressing how the innovation affects Banks, Fintechs, and other players in the Financial Ecosystem.
REGULATION OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES
In situating Digital currencies, Mr.Kwame A. Oppong, Head of FINTECH and Innovations at the Bank of Ghana noted that the Distinction between the privately issued tokens and the CBDC issued by the Central Bank is that the former is a medium of exchange, store of value and remains a liability of the Central Bank.
He further mentioned that there is friction between the privately issued currencies and the ones by the Central Bank and mentioned that because Cryptocurrencies involve fascinating Technologies the public should desist from engaging with them without understanding them because of their highly associated risks.
Additionally, he added that even though the Central Bank is interested in exploring the Blockchain Technology, it is being cautious in order to prevent fraud, money laundering associated with such digital ventures.
NATIONS ADOPTING DIGITAL CURRENCIES
Mr. Desmond Israel mentioned that Digital currencies needed to be rolled out in a manner that they become valuable for people’s use because countries that are adopting them are using them for their use cases and commended the BoG for seeking to do the same.
He mentioned also that the Bahamas, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, and Kenya have launched or doing feasibility studies on their digital currencies.
READINESS OF BANKS TO THE USE OF DIGITAL CURRENCIES
Mr.Adolph Kpegah, Chief Risk Officer, Absa Bank noted that Banks will support the move to digital currency move. However, their readiness will differ from one to the other.
He emphasized that Banks have over the years demonstrated their readiness to adapt to digital technological changes per the comparative case of the Mobile Money integration and how Banks coped, adopted digital channels to aid customer transactions during the COVID pandemic.
